A Family of Oneshots
by RositaLG
Summary: My former stories Attention and Boxes as well as some more to come. I decided to put them all in one place since they have the same characters. Maybe I'll get all the way to Z! Not in chronological order. Trory family
1. Attention

Disclaimer: One shot

Disclaimer: This is a one-shot that is a separate entity but sort of goes with the fic Boxes. The characters are the same. I'm thinking of starting an alphabet series of one-shots with the same characters. We'll see.

"Hey Kid, how are you?" Tristan asked his daughter absent-mindedly as he cooked dinner.

"Fine." At the sound of her voice, he could tell that she was pre-occupied.

"What's up?"

"Nothing." He looked skeptically at her. With a sigh, she shook her head. "I'm fine, really."

"Fine. Okay." He said. Silence overtook the atmosphere for a minute as Tristan went back to cooking.

"Hey Dad?"

"Hmm?" He didn't look up.

"Why did you drive Mom crazy back in high school?" Tristan stopped and watched his daughter. "I was talking to Mom today and she told me all about how you used to torture her."

"Torture is a very strong word."

"Still, what did you get out of it?" Tristan sighed.

"I don't know. Attention I guess. I knew she would never give me the time of day so, thinking that bad attention is better than no attention, I went after the negative attention. Plus, I loved her reactions."

"What do you mean?"

"When your mom gets mad, she gets this fire in her eyes. And she could banter better than anyone else I had ever met. You ever see two people do the tango?" She nodded. "It was like that."

"So basically, bantering for you two was like foreplay." Nearly chopping his finger off, he decided to put the knife down. "What?" She asked innocently.

"It scares Daddy when you use the word foreplay that easily." He said as he looked her dead in the eye. She shrugged.

"But that's what it was like." She said.

"Even so. Why are you so interested?" He asked, knowing that she had never asked about their past together before.

"I don't know. We were just talking about it this afternoon. Mom said that Taylor reminded her of you when you were sixteen."

"Taylor who?" He asked as she stood up.

"Just this guy in my English class. We had to work on a project together so he came over this afternoon." She said as she stole a piece of carrot from the counter. Munching on it as she left the room, Tristan felt very sick to his stomach.

"ROR!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"You yelled?" She asked as she appeared around the corner.

"Tell me everything you know about this Taylor kid." He said as she sat down in the same seat that Alexia just left.

"What about him?"

"You said he acted just like me?"

"Yeah. He's blonde, about six foot, he's a sharp kid."

"And…"

"And what?"

"Do you think that he likes Lex?"

"I don't know. I barely met the kid."

"Do you think she likes him?"

"Why do you want to know?" He took a deep breath.

"She was asking all these questions about why I used to torture you in high school."

"Oh this is going to be good." Rory said with a grin. "And you gave her what answer pray tell?"

"I told her that I did it for attention. But then when I said our bantering was like doing the tango, she suggested that our bantering was more like foreplay." Rory nodded.

"Pretty much." She said.

"She is associating Taylor with bantering, which she compares to foreplay." He whispered as Nathan walked by the kitchen. Rory rolled her eyes.

"Well, she is our kid. She is the product of a long line of banterers."

"Mom, have you seen my jersey?"

"In the laundry room."

"What are you guys talking about?" He asked, his eyes wandering from parent to parent.

"Nothing." Tristan said.

"Your sister." Rory said at the same time.

"And her massive crush on Taylor?" He said as he grabbed a soda from the fridge.

"She has a crush on Taylor?" He shrugged.

"She sure was giggling a lot." Tristan gave Rory an 'I told you so' glare. Noticing the look, Nathan kept walking, right out of the kitchen.

"Tris, what do you want me to do?" She asked.

"Lock up your daughter." He said with a smile.

"You knew this day was coming. It's been coming since the first time you took advantage of a girl."

"Don't do that. Don't blame this on me."

"I'm not blaming you, I'm simply saying that you are freaked out because you've been 'that guy' and now it's time for karma."

"Karma?"

"What goes around, comes around. Lex is smart and has good taste; she's not going to fall for that. If she likes a guy, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Like you and me?" Tristan said, trying to make his point.

"Yes. Exactly like that." She said with a kiss. "Hey, do you wanna banter later?" She asked with a whisper to his ear. Before he had a chance to reply, they were interrupted.

"God, get a room you two." Lex said with a disgusted look. With guilty smiles, they pulled apart from each other.

"Lorelei Alexia, what is that?" Rory asked as she grabbed the top of her daughter's wrist and flipped it over for Tristan to see.

"Relax, it's a fake." She said as she licked her finger and ran it over the temporary tattoo. "I drew it on with a marker in study hall. Besides, if I was going to get a tattoo, it definitely wouldn't be on my wrist." She said. Rory shot Tristan an exasperated look.

"Well, there's no denying it. She is definitely your daughter." Rory said.

"I didn't realize that there was a debate." Tristan said. "Why is it that whenever she's acting out, she's my daughter, and when good things happen, she's your daughter." Rory locked eyes with him. "Hey, your genes skip generations. You're telling me there isn't a single piece of Lor and Christopher in her?"

"Touché." Lex said for her mother. "Hey, speaking of Grandma, she wanted to take me shopping this weekend in New York, is that okay?"

"Sure." Rory said. "Why not."

"Thanks."

"Just, before you go, comfort your father and tell him that you're not having sex?" Lex looked at her mother. "I know, just…for him, please?"

"None." She shook her head. Tristan smiled and kissed her on the top of her head.

"You're a good kid. Please, stay that way." He begged over-dramatically.

"I'll do what I can." She said as she rolled her eyes. "I swear, you two get weirder every day." Tristan and Rory looked at each other.

"Yeah." They agreed in unison, leaving the conversation at that.


	2. Boxes

Boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. That was what Tristan saw when he looked around his basement. They had lived in their house for almost a year and they still had yet to unpack everything. Of course, when his daughter needed a costume for a dress-up party, Rory had suggested some of her old clothes and immediately sent Tristan down to look for them.

"LEX!" He cried, hoping for some help.

"What?" She cried back.

"Get down here please!" Rory followed her daughter down the steps.

"What's with all the yelling?" Rory asked.

"I have no idea which box you are talking about." He said, pointing to the stacks. Rory sighed.

"I guess we are just going to have to read the labels." She said as she rolled her eyes. "Never send a man to do a woman's job." Tristan didn't take any offense, happy to have the help.

"It's your costume and your old clothes," he pointed to the two of them "you two can help look for it."

"Here's one that says High school on it." Alexia said. "That has got to be comical."

"Go ahead, start digging." Rory said, peering over her shoulder. "I have no idea what we are going to find." She opened the box and was immediately confronted with a picture album. Taking out the album, she began to look at the pictures, mostly of her mom in Stars Hollow with her Grandma.

"Halloween?" Alexia asked as she pointed to a photo of Rory standing in front of her house in 50's attire. Rory's hand went over her mouth to hide the smile as she shook her head.

"Not quite." Tristan looked over the two brunette heads to see what they were talking about. "My first boyfriend Dean and I got into a fight over Donna Reed."

"Who?"

"An old actress, anyway, it progressed into women's rights, blah blah blah and I, of course, was offended that he wanted a wife who would cook him meals."

"Nothing's changed." Tristan said with a wink.

"It was our first fight and back then it seemed like a big deal. So to make up for it, I made him a meal, got dressed up, invited him over, the whole deal."

"Wow, that's so not like you." She said as she looked at her dad. "You must have really liked him."

"I was so young, but yeah, I did like him."

"Did you know Dad then?" She asked.

"Um" she thought about it. "Yeah, this must have been just a week or two after I started Chilton. We broke up a year later." Lex didn't say anything, just kept turning the pages. When nothing in particular caught her eye, she moved on to the next box. She read the side of the box.

"Yale bookstore." She read. Rory put a finger out to stop her but she had already torn into the box. "More pictures. Of another blonde man." Her voice dripping with drama. "Who is this?" She held up a frame.

"That would be my Logan box, my last boyfriend before your father." Rory looked over and smiled.

"How long did you date him?"

"On and off for two years. It was two years too many though. He was trouble from the get-go."

"Oh my God." She reached into the box and pulled out the engagement ring that Rory had kept. "Was this from him?" Tristan paused to look at the ring, but then returned to rifling through a box. Rory sighed.

"Yep."

"And you said no? Look at it, it's gorgeous."

"I said no. I wasn't ready. It wasn't supposed to be."

"But you stole the ring?" She shook her head.

"He wanted me to keep it. I thought about selling it, but it seemed cruel."

"Who knew that you had such a sordid history with men." Tristan snorted at the comment, knowing that there was a reason he called her Mary.

"I do not have a sordid history with men! I only had three boyfriends before I met your dad, they just were, unfortunately, never ending relationships."

"And how many girlfriends did you have?" Alexia looked up at her dad awaiting the answer.

"One." He said, obviously lying.

"You taught me not to lie." She looked at her mother, expecting a better answer.

"Don't look at me…I didn't want to know."

"I never had a serious girlfriend before you." He told Rory. "I had plenty of girls, but I have no boxes."

"Not even a Rory box?" Alexia asked.

"We never broke up. I never needed one." Rory smiled at his answer.

"Okay, stop looking at each other like that. I still need a costume." She said, completely grossed out. The next box belonged to Tristan.

"Oooh, very nice." She said as she held up one of Tristan's dress uniforms from the Academy. Rory laughed, unable to picture Tristan in any uniform.

"Ah." He acted scared of the piece. "Put it away. Horrible memories."

"Hey! I'm recounting ex-boyfriends, you can handle a memory or two."

"Looks like Dad has a box after all." Alexia said as she pulled out his old Chilton uniform and his yearbooks.

"I honestly had no idea that was in there. I must have thrown all my Chilton stuff into one box when I moved." She opened a yearbook and a pamphlet came floating out.

"Romeo and Juliet." She said, picking up the program. "This is from that play you told me about!"

"You kept that?" Rory asked as she moved across the room to see it. "Oh my God."

"Let me see. Wow. Where did that you find that?" Tristan asked.

"The yearbook."

"You didn't even act in that, how did you get a program?" Rory smiled at him.

"I must have gotten one at the entrance, five minutes later we were saying goodbye."

"Little did we know." Rory said with a grin.

"Dad, every girl in here wrote her phone number next to their picture." She said as she showed him the yearbook.

"I was popular," he shrugged. Rory rolled her eyes.

"It was his very own directory."

"Moving on." Alexia grimaced as she put down the yearbook with two fingers in disgust.

"Aha!" Rory said as she opened another box. "I found it!" Pulling out her dresses from a variety of society engagements, she held them up for her daughter to analyze. "What do you think? Anything strike you as costume material, and remember, please be kind." Alexia sorted through the dresses, some of which Tristan remembered and pulled out one in particular.

"Oooh, this is perfect." She said as she pulled out a black number. "It's cute and it's vintage! Way to go Mom." She said as she held it up to her own body.

OOOOO

"Oh my God! You look fantastic." She said. "Spin around. Let me see it. Yeah, that looks great on you, but it's missing…something." Rory stared at her for a second and then ran to her closet and emerged with a pair of black heels. "There, now that's better. You got my legs so you can totally pull it off."

"Oh no." Tristan said as his daughter appeared from her room. "Absolutely not."

"Daddy!"

"Lex, it's way too short!"

"Mom wore it!" She said, convinced that would change his mind.

"She's also four inches shorter than you are."

"Tristan, she looks fine." A knock on the door reminded them all why they were having this conversation. "Okay, have fun, be safe." She said as she pushed her daughter out the door. Tristan still stood in the living room.

"I cannot believe you are letting your daughter go out like that."

"I cannot believe that you are worried about her."

"Do you remember the first time I saw that dress?" Rory smiled.

"Please, she's still in high school."

"Do you remember the first time I saw that dress?" He repeated.

"It had nothing to do with that dress. I could have been wearing a bag over my head and clothes that were three sizes too big and you still would have drooled over me when I walked in the door."

"Maybe, but she's way too young to be wearing that out in public."

"Tristan, it's a cocktail dress. Get over it. Consider it payback for your own high school years that you are sitting here tonight worrying about boys who are just like you used to be."

"She needs to get a boyfriend." He said, surprising Rory.

"Right, and that will help the situation how?"

"At least then there will only be one boy who needs to be threatened, right now I have to worry about everyone who sets eyes on her."

"Someday she'll have a big strong boyfriend to protect her, but for now, will you please have a little faith in your own kid?" Tristan sighed and looked over at her smile and it made him smile automatically. It was then that he realized something.

"It's quiet…too quiet. Where's Nathan?" He asked Rory.

"At Matt's. Although it's not a sleepover because 'boys don't have those'." She rolled her eyes as she mocked their son. "Anyway, we've got the house to ourselves." Tristan's grin broadened.

"When was the last time that happened?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around his wife. She shrugged as he bent down to kiss her neck. "Do you still have any of those dresses out?" He asked as he pressed a smirk against her skin. With a giggle, Rory shook her head as she pulled away from him.

"You'll just have to use your imagination." She said as she pulled him towards the bedroom.


	3. Cinderella

Disclaimer: This is just to get through my writer's block. No worries. Matchmakers will be coming back…hopefully soon!

"But Daddy!"

"Don't Daddy me. You have ten seconds to get into your pajamas or you don't get a story." The six year old jumped up off the couch and ran to her room. Rory smiled as she heard the threat and the pitter patter of feet running up the stairs and down the hall above her. Tristan came into her office looking exhausted.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm losing, but don't tell them that."

"Nah, you're doing fine. I heard the angry voice." She teased him.

"Nathan was uncharacteristically cooperative tonight." Rory scoffed.

"You're just lucky that he's still scared of you."

"Maybe you're right." He said with a sigh as he set his chin on the top of her head. "How's it going?" He asked, trying to read her screen. She shut the laptop lid.

"No peeking." She swiveled around in her desk chair to face him.

"You're not going to let me read any of it?"

"Not until it's done."

"But it's a book!"

"At this point I'm convinced I won't finish it at all."

"Not true." He said, trying to be supportive. In reality, he had no idea what she was going through. He couldn't fathom the effort and the time that she was going to be putting in. "You already have almost half of it done!"

"Daddy!" Alexia screamed from her room. Rory smiled.

"Duty calls." She reminded him. "I'm going to finish this page and then I'll be up."

"Okay. Don't hurry. It may take a couple hours to build Lex's cage." He joked. The child was notorious for refusing to stay in her room at night.

"Good luck." She said before turning around to start typing again. Tristan glanced back and smiled. He was proud of her. He knew it wasn't easy for her, handling kids and trying to write a book. He climbed the stairs and headed towards the end of the hall where his daughter was anxiously awaiting him.

"Alright kiddo, what story?" He asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Cinderella!" She said, raising the book. He should have known. They must have read this story a dozen nights in a row.

"Again?"

"It's my favorite."

"Okay." He sat down next to her, laid his back against the headboard of her bed and got settled in. "Once upon a time in a kingdom far far away…" He started from memorization. As he read the story, he watched her face. She definitely had her mother's interest in reading. Her eyes lit up at all of her favorite parts, and at the end, she sighed. "And they lived happily ever after." He finished, setting the book in his lap. "So, what was your favorite part tonight?"

"When the fairy godmother makes the mouses into people." She giggled.

"You mean the mice." He corrected her. She nodded. He stood up and tucked her in.

"Daddy?"

"Yes munchkin."

"What happened to Cinderella's mom and dad?" She asked quietly. Tristan sighed. Damn Rory for giving her this insatiable curiosity.

"Well, Cinderella's mother died and so, her father married a different woman, making her the step-mother. And then, I guess her father died too."

"That's what I thought." She pondered this a second before continuing. "Are you and Mommy going to die?" Tristan's stomach clenched at the fact that his daughter even had to ask that question.

"No. Not for a very long time. Everyone is going to die someday, but most people don't die until they are very very old."

"How old?"

"One hundred years old." Her eyes bugged out as she thought about how long that would be. "No, I'm going to be here to watch you grow up, and protect you and make sure that you meet your prince charming, and then I'm going to be at your wedding to walk you down the aisle, and then I'm going to be there when you become a mommy and have a bunch of crazy kids of your own. By then I'll be old and gray and wrinkly!" He smiled. "You're never going to get rid of me." He kissed her forehead. "I love you. Sleep tight."

"Night." She said, watching him turn off the lamp and close the door. When Tristan appeared around the doorway, Rory was taken aback.

"What did she do to you?" She asked, knowing that he looked completely spent. He sat down on the edge of their bed and fell backwards, putting his head in Rory's lap.

"Leave it to Lex to turn Cinderella into a Q and A on death."

"What?"

"Oh yeah, she wanted to know what happened to Cinderella's parents, and were they dead and I said, yes."

"Lovely."

"And so then she looks up at me with those big blue eyes and quivering chin and wants to know if you and I are going to die."

"Oh god." Rory sighed. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her that people live to be one hundred years old and that I was going to be around to pick out her prince charming and be a grandpa and be old and wrinkly."

"Good." She said, still playing with his hair. She watched as he closed his eyes. "Don't go there Tristan." She said, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"I can't help it." He said, sitting up. "What if something were to happen to you, or me for that matter?"

"Nothing is going to happen to us." She said, blowing the subject off with a wave of her hand.

"Eventually, something will." He pointed out.

"If something happened to me, you would lie in bed and cry for a couple of days but eventually, the kids would need to eat and be taken to school and you would have to move on."

"If something happened to you, I would die right along with you." He said, knowing it was true. She stared at him.

"Don't say that." She said. "Don't you dare say that." He was surprised by her tone. "You are not allowed to fall apart. Do you hear me? You've got two kids that are going to need you to be strong for them and if you're a mess, they are the ones who are going to suffer." He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off with a point of her finger. "Promise me." He smiled.

"I promise." He said in his best 'Yes dear' tone.

"Good." He crawled over to her and kissed her lightly. "God, if she can mess with our minds this much at six, what is she going to be able to do when she gets older?" Tristan laughed and shook his head.

"I guess we'll find out."


End file.
